Romania Conference 2018

Our GBC team is in Bod, Brașov, Romania! They are helping local pastors and leaders from the area churches to improve their study and teaching methods, helping youth leaders and audio/visual technicians, and helping the local public school teachers by providing personal and classroom teachniques to improve their methods and take care fo their needs.

Our pastor Mike Breeden, his wife Jackie, Brad and Amy Denton are on the trip as well as pastor David Haynes, his wife Rhonda and Shaun Shepherd from Lake Drive Baptist Church in Sale Creek, TN. We will include some photos as often as possible of the team and the Speranta Baptist Church in Bod and the work being done there.

Brad Denton .

Thursday, October 18th

Today was our last day of the conference. In the morning, Brothers Mike and David finished their sessions with the pastors, while the wives finished with Jackie and Rhonda.

Brad and Amy were able to go into the Bod village school and go to 3 Kindergarden and pre-K classes as well as 2 of the older classes. We again delivered school supplies and love from the United States. The teachers have been amazing to talk to and work with and this will hopefully open doors that Sorin, Dana, Ciprian, and Alina can work to keep open.

In the afternoon, we again had the teachers and had 7 AND the director of the Bod schools! We talked about parent involvement and ways we each work to keep parents involved and build relationships. At the conclusion of the meeting, we gave gifts again to all who came along with a special bag to the director. We allowed all the teachers in attendance to get any supplies we had left to take to their classrooms as well. We also received an invitation to see them next year! That is a large blessing and more than we ever imagined.

In the afternoon, we visited some families again. One lady, Eva, prayed for salvation! What a blessing. Her son Andre comes to the church to the after-school program. Pray for him as he is very behind on his skills and may have some learning disabilities.

The evening found Brad again working with the Bod church leaders to learn to record their services as well as to look at some worship software that may help them to expand their media in the future. He also got a chance to recommend some computers and hardware for them based on their requests. During this time, the ladies visted Tatiana in Brașov and when we all returned, there were gifts to be given! We gave and received gifts and shared a last evening together laughing and talking.

Tomorrow, we will head back towards Bucharest and visit Peleș Palace on the way. Tomorrow evening, we will go to sleep the last time in Romania as we fly home Saturday morning! It has seemed quick but extremely good and we have seen God moving in this village. Pray for our travels and we will see you all again Sunday morning!

Eva and her son Andre along with the team members

Ciprian, Brad and Amy with some of the class at the village school

Amy with some new friends

Brad and Amy become part of the English lesson

Bro. Mike finishes his studies with the pastors

Alina, Amy, and Brad visit Ruxandra's class (She was the only teacher to attend every day of the teacher sessions)

Wednesday, October 17th

The pastors conference and the wives sessions continue today. The pastors take a deeper look into their preparation and interpretation each day.

Amy and Brad went back to school! This time, we visited a Kindergarden class of one of the teachers who has come to our sessions, Christiana. We brought gifts of pencils, erasers and candy! She had her classroom painted and it was a very happy and active place. She made a gift for us and you can see that in the pictures below. She was working on the number 4 today with her class and also tying shoes. 😊

In the afternoon, Amy and Brad met with teachers and today, a new teacher came who has a lot of influence in the schools here. She also invited us to her class tomorrow!!!! Praise the Lord! Following the teacher's meeting, the ladies had a couple of visits with some of the women in the village.

In the evening, Shaun met again with the youth leaders and gave them more examples of programs and methods to try to reach their young people for Christ.

As with each day, we are tired but fulfilled. We are able to see God working through the visits, meetings, and opportunities we didn't expect to have. Pray for wisdom, open doors and hearts, and safety. ***Especially pray for David and Rhonda as their granddaughter is sick while we are here and the doctors aren't yet sure what is the problem. They need answers and can't be there to be near their family.

Rhonda with Elena

The ladies were able to visit with Mirela in her home. She is with her children, Ionut and Elena

Manuela and her daughter visited us at the church. She is pictured with (L-R) Alina, Amy, Manuela, Jackie and Antonia

This is the lunch meal with all the pastors and their wives, as well as our team and the church leaders from Bod

Florica and Virica working on the craft

The finished craft, a coaster

The pastors' wives take a moment to give us a picture

Jackie teaches from Ephesians

Our host, Christiana, with Amy and the craft she made for us

Brad goes back to Kindergarden!

Through the mushroom, into the Kindergarden class

The pastors spend a time in prayer before every session

Tuesday, October 16th

Today, the pastors and wives met again for more training and activities. This was followed by the lunch for all the participants.

Following yesterday's invitation, Brad and Amy were able to go to the school in Bod Colony and visit the classes with their English teacher. We visited the 8th, 7th, 6th, 3rd, and 2nd grade classes. We spoke to each class alittle and Brad even got to help teach the English lesson in the 3rd grade class! We gave out pencils and erasers to the students there. We were also invited back tomorrow!!! Praise the Lord! We said this was a good thing and Ciprian said, "No, great thing." Tomorrow we will go to the Bod Colony school and visit the Kindergarden class.

The afternoon session with the teachers was smaller because some of the teachers from one school couldn't come, so we had 2 teachers from Bod Village school. They had several behavior issues they wanted to talk about and we spent over 1 and a half hours just with them and the teachers from the church after-school program. It was good that we had just a few because they spoke much more than before and their director wasn't there. That helped them open up to us and talk more.

In the evening, Brad helped the church members with some questions about sound systems and how they should be used and problems they were having. It was a good way to help the Bod church to be able to use their resources to the best of their ability.

The team visiting with a Romanian family

Amy gives out pencils and erasers to the students

Brad and Amy with a Romanian class

Roxana Mako and her students singing "Good Morning" to us

The pastors' wives busy at work on their craft

Bro. Mike leads during the morning sessions with the pastors

Monday, October 15

Today, we began the Conference in full. In the morning, Bro. Mike and Bro. David taught the local pastors how to plan, prepare, and present sermons based on two styles: Hermeneutics and Homiletics. During this time, Jackie, Amy and Rhonda worked with the pastors' wives on Bible study methods and crafts. This was followed by a lunch of all the pastors and wives.

The afternoon found Brad and Amy speaking with the local teachers (including the Headmaster!) about taking care of themselves to be most efficient in their job of teaching. The GBC team then visited a local home. PRAYER REQUEST: We've (Amy, Brad and Ciprian) been invited into the classrooms! That's huge. We're going tomorrow to the English and kindergarten classes and maybe again Thursday!

The evening session was led by Shaun Shepherd and was about teaching children and youth.

Shaun speaks to the children and youth leaders

Mady, Alina, Ciprian, and Brad with the teacher's snacks!

Some of the gifts for the teachers and students

Brad and Amy with Mady during the teachers meeting

Bro. David teaching Hermeneutics during the pastor session

Rhonda and Zaharia

Mady, Amy and Florica are making a salt scrub

Bro. Mike shares with the pastors about Homiletics

Jackie teaches the pastors' wives a Bible study

Sunday, October 14

Amy, Jackie, Florica and another Romanian lady at the Sunday evening event

A Romanian man draws while pastor Sorin emcees a lively game of Pictionary

Jackie and some of the ladies with their calendar crafts

Brad proving a man can mix too

Amy and Dana in the kitchen with Marianna and Virginia who make our food everyday

Some video of the singing portion of the services today at Speranta church, Bod

Saturday, October 13

Brad, Mike, David and Jackie make some of the gift bags

When the cows come home in Romania, they know where to go by themselves. These cows come down the road each day about the same time to go home from the fields. They even know the right gate to go through.